The Steven Spielberg-directed sequel has been delayed for a second time

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Disney’s been making so much money off its franchise properties over the past 10-15 years in particular that it was only a matter of time until the true deluge of sequels, side-quels, and reboots arrived. Sure enough, a company announcement today suggests that we’re in for more and more big Disney names in the next few years. Some of them just won’t be rolling around as soon as audiences and fans might have been hoping.

The big emergent news is that the release date for Steven Spielberg’s planned fifth Indiana Jones movie has once again been delayed. News emerged a few weeks back that issues with the film’s screenplay meant that new personnel would be coming in, and the date would likely be pushed back. Now, the fifth adventure of Dr. Jones has officially been delayed a full year, as it is now slated for release on July 9th, 2021. This is the second major delay for the project, after its initial July 19th, 2019 release was pushed back to the July 10th, 2020 date it’s now left behind as well. What this means for the start of production remains unclear as of this publication.

As previously reported, screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan, the son of Raiders of the Lost Ark scribe Lawrence Kasdan, has been brought about to rewrite the Indiana Jones 5 screenplay. Kasdan most recently wrote the rather-excellent Solo: A Star Wars Story. He’ll get to work with the original Han Solo this time around, as Harrison Ford is on board to reprise Indy. If you’re wondering, Ford will turn 79 years on July 13th, less than a week before Indiana Jones 5’s planned release.

Elsewhere in the Disneyverse, the studio’s latest theme park ride-turned-feature film project Jungle Cruise will dock on October 11th, 2019, and Maleficent 2 will attempt to replicate the success of that first spinoff on May 29th, 2020. Meanwhile, this year’s big Christmas contender Mary Poppins Returns has been bumped up slightly to December 19th. And as a bizarre final note, the already suspect title for the anticipated sequel Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2 has been changed to the somehow even more cumbersome Ralph Breaks the InternetWreck-It.